Seafood co. pleads guilty to scallop harvesting scheme
Federal officials said a Maine seafood company and one of its owners have admitted to conspiring to conceal the harvest of around 80,000 pounds of scallops in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
The Associated Press reported seafood wholesaler D.C. Air & Seafood and 41-year-old Christopher Byers of Winter Harbor pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring with six fishing boat owners to prepare false fishing reports. The U.S. District Attorney’s office in New Jersey filed the charges against the company and the fishermen two years ago for harvests that took place from March 2007 to March 2008.
The boat owners had pleaded guilty earlier, the AP reported.
As part of a plea deal, the company agreed to pay $520,000 in restitution, be placed on probation for five years and to not harvest scallops during that time.
Byers faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in March.
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